Compact high-gain antenna

Abstract

The invention relates to a panel antenna comprising: a ground plane (P); a dielectric substrate ( 11 ) having a permittivity (∈ 1 ), the substrate ( 11 ) being located on the ground plane (P); at least one radiating source (S i ), each radiating source consisting of a plurality of antenna elements (E ij ), the antenna elements (E ij ) being located on the substrate ( 11 ) and furthermore consecutively spaced apart, relative to one another, by a distance (d e ) shorter than one wavelength λ, the wavelength λ corresponding to the antenna operating frequency. The antenna is characterized in that it furthermore comprises a dielectric superstrate ( 12 ) having a permittivity (∈ 2 ) higher than the permittivity (∈ 1 ) of the substrate ( 11 ), the superstrate being located above the antenna elements (E ij ), and in that the antenna elements (E ij ) are all identical and have, in operation, identical radiation characteristics.

The invention claimed is:  
     
       1. Panel antenna comprising
 a ground plane (P), 
 a dielectric substrate ( 11 ), having a permittivity (e 1 ), wherein the substrate ( 11 ) is arranged on the ground plane (P), 
 at least one radiating source (S i ) formed of at least one pair of antenna elements (E ij ) arranged on the substrate ( 11 ), the antenna elements being all identical and have during operation identical radiating features and are furthermore consecutively spaced apart in relation to one another at a distance (d e ) of less than a wavelength λ, said wavelength λ corresponding to the antenna operating frequency, the antenna elements being connected successively in pairs by a first supply line (L 1 ), wherein said pairs are connected to each other by a second supply line (L 2 ), the centre of the second supply line (L 2 ) comprising an access point (A i ) of the radiating source (S i ) adapted for supplying said radiating, source (S i ); 
 a dielectric superstrate ( 12 ), having a permittivity (∈ 2 ) greater than the permittivity (e 1 ) of the substrate ( 11 ), wherein the superstrate is arranged above the antenna elements (E ij ) and the antenna elements (E ij ); 
 a resistance (R) connected between the ground plane (P) and each antenna element (E ij ). 
 
     
     
       2. Antenna according to  claims 1  wherein each radiating source (S 1 ) comprises four antenna elements (E i1 , E i2 , E i3 , E i4 ). 
     
     
       3. Antenna according to  claim 2 , comprising several radiating sources (S i ), wherein the radiating sources (S i ) are arranged in relation to each other such that their access points (A i ) are spaced apart by a distance equal to the distance between two antenna elements (E ij ), wherein each radiating source (S i ) possesses identical radiating characteristics. 
     
     
       4. Antenna according to  claim 1 , wherein the antenna elements (E ij ) are arranged in relation to one another with a distance d e  equal to d s (N−1)/N, wherein d s  is the distance between two access points (A i ) of two radiating sources (S i ) and N is the number of antenna elements (E ij ) of each radiating source (S i ). 
     
     
       5. Antenna according to  claim 1 , wherein each radiating source (S i ) preferentially comprises between two and six antenna elements (E ij ). 
     
     
       6. Antenna according to  claim 1 , wherein the antenna elements (E ij ) are patches having a shape selected from among the following group: square, equilateral triangle, elliptical. 
     
     
       7. Antenna according to  claim 1 , wherein the antenna elements (E ij ) are derived from the following technologies: horns or wire antennas. 
     
     
       8. Cellular communication network comprising a panel antenna according to  claim 1 .